No Matter What, No Matter Where (Evy Story 66)
by quietandsneaky
Summary: Sequel to Bobby Takes Over. Evy gets in trouble for shoplifting.


**Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original character of Evelyn Winchester does.**

As uncle Bobby so colorfully put it when he was mad, Evy's "ass was grass". And she knew it.

She sat in the office of the manager of the store, bouncing her knee up and down frantically. She was grateful he wasn't calling the police, but she knew that, once she got home, that wouldn't really matter. Thinking about what might happen was only serving to make her more nervous, so Evy focused instead on how she'd ended up where she was.

A gifted middle and high school had opened in Sioux Falls at the beginning of the school year, and Evy, having some of the highest test scores in the state, had been invited to apply. She'd been accepted with a full scholarship, and finally found a place she felt like she belonged. School wasn't easy, something she could just breeze through, but something she actually enjoyed.

The problem had come with the group of friends she'd chosen. Evy had never really been popular at her old school, so she relished the feeling of hanging out with the most popular group of girls at her new school. But ever since Jessica, Kayla, and Lindsay had come into her life, she'd been getting into more and more trouble. First it had come in the form of two missing homework assignments in a week. After being told that a third missing assignment would mean suspension for a week, Bobby had made it clear-no homework, no fun of any form.

Then came the mouthing off to teachers. That one had gotten Bobby's attention even quicker than the homework. She'd been grounded for a week, wrote apology notes to all her teachers, and, worst of all to Evy, Bobby had pulled out the old wooden hairbrush he kept in the bathroom drawer and spanked her for the third time in nine years she'd lived with him. With the tears still rolling down her cheeks and Bobby's arms around her in a hug, he'd told her,

"This has got to stop. You're better than this. You hear me?"

Evy thought she'd gotten it. She really had. She'd stayed away from her friends that were leading her into trouble. For a few days. Then she'd started hanging out with them again a week ago, which led to today. Jessica had dared her to try and shoplift. When Evy had gotten caught, Jessica had taken off out the door running.

 _Say goodbye to your butt, genius. Uncle Bobby's about to spank it all the way off._

Finally, the door to the office opened and the moment she'd dreaded came. Bobby stood there, arms over his chest, every ounce of being showing disappointment in her. The manager stood next to Bobby and explained,

"Bobby, I'm not pressing charges or banning her from the store. Only because you and I are friends."

"I appreciate that, Jack. Thanks." Bobby said.

"But if she comes back, she has to be with you. And if it happens again, I won't have a choice."

"Trust me, if it happens again, you pressing charges'll be the least of what she has to worry about." Bobby said.

Evy audibly gulped at that and squirmed in her seat.

Bobby stepped inside and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go."

"Yes, sir." Evy said quietly.

"Make sure you apologize."

Evy turned to the manager and said, "I'm sorry for what I did today."

Jack nodded. "You seem like a really good kid. Don't let that girl you were with earlier change that, okay?"

"Yes, sir. Thank you for letting me go."

Evy walked out to the car with Bobby, who was, if it were possible, even more silent than normal. Evy wanted to talk, wanted to tell him she was sorry for this and beg his forgiveness, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. They made it back to the house, where Bobby ordered her straight to her room, and Evy spoke for the first time since he'd picked her up.

"Uncle Bobby…"

"Not now." Bobby turned and looked at her for the first time. "Just give me a little while. Go up to your room and I'll be there in a bit."

"Yes, sir."

Evy walked up the stairs to her room. She'd seen more than disappointment in Bobby's face when he asked for a 'little while'. He was sad. Suddenly the guilt was overpowering, and she just wanted to make everything better. But it was too late to take it all back.

An hour later, Bobby walked up and took Evy's desk chair. He could tell she was scared, but he was still a little too aggravated to comfort her. He'd spent a lot of the previous hour calming himself down and mulling over what to do about it. The ultimate decision would be hard on both of them, but Bobby had a well-practiced stern face.

"Tell me what happened."

"I did it on a dare." Evy said.

"A dare?" Bobby said. "Jack said you were with a girl. Kayla?"

"Jessica."

"Mm hmm." Bobby nodded and looked away. "So the same girls that got you in trouble the last two times are the ones that got you in trouble today."

"No. I could have chosen not to do it."

"Good try to get out of trouble there." Bobby said. "My point is, every time you hang out with them, something happens. You're a smart kid. Smart enough to know why it's not a good idea for you to spend time with them."

"I like them. They're my friends."

"Your _friend_ left you today the second you got in trouble. Does that sound like a friend to you?" Bobby asked.

"I guess not." Evy said.

"Look, I won't tell you you can't be friends with them. Because I don't want you sneaking around to see them. But I _can_ tell you that they are not allowed to be in this house anymore, and you are not allowed to go to sleepovers over there anymore. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." Evy said.

"That's not it." Bobby said, bracing himself for Evy's reaction.

"I kinda thought so." Evy said, waiting and dreading the instruction to go get the hairbrush.

"It ain't what you're thinking." Bobby said. "I thought about that. But since it didn't seem to work last time, I decided I needed to do something else that'll hurt more."

Suddenly Evy started shaking. "What does that mean?"

The moment of truth. "You're not grounded, but you're not going to see Sam next week either."

Sam had moved to California five years earlier when he left for college, but until recently, had come back to Sioux Falls at least once every two months. Law school had proved to be more demanding than college, so while Evy and Bobby attended Sam's graduation, Sam had explained to a disappointed Evy that he wouldn't be home as much. She'd surprised Bobby when she responded to Sam's news by working to pay for her own trip to California to visit him. She'd mowed neighbor's lawns, delivered newspapers, and even made brownies and cookies that she sold door to door. Bobby had expected her to be angry, but there wasn't a trace of anger there. Just pain and disappointment, which was a lot harder for him to swallow.

"What do you mean?" 

"You're not going to see Sam." Bobby said. "I know you were looking forward to it, but you messed up today."

"Uncle Bobby, please. I haven't seen him since last Christmas."

"I know." Bobby said.

"Please don't do this." Evy begged. "I'm sorry. I'll stop seeing them, just please don't do this."

"No. It's too late."

"Sammy would never agree to this." Evy said, desperately grasping at something to keep her trip alive.

"He already did." Bobby said, making Evy's jaw drop. "I called him before I came in here. I didn't want to punish him too for something that you did."

"You told him?" Evy asked. "Why?"

"Because this is your third strike." Bobby said, amazing himself with how calm he was able to stay in the face of Evy's tears. "This is the third time you've gotten in trouble in three months. That means our agreement to keep it between us isn't there anymore."

"What about…?"

"I didn't tell your dad." Bobby said. "I figured losing the trip was enough, that you didn't need a lecture from him too."

"Sammy doesn't want to see me?" Evy asked, the thought breaking her heart.

"He told me to tell you to call him." Bobby said. "Said you call him anytime you wanted this week."

"It's not the same." Evy said.

"I know. Just call him." Bobby said. He softened his tone slightly and said kindly, "Call him, Baitfish."

As if Sam had heard the two of them talking, Evy's cell phone rang with a video call from Sam. Bobby left the room, hoping and praying they'd made the right decision. Evy took a deep breath and answered the call, but was unable to stop the tears falling.

"Hey."

"Hey, Cricket. You okay?" Sam asked.

"No!" Evy said sadly. "You agreed to this?"

"Yes." Sam answered. "I'm sorry. I know you worked hard on this trip. But you could have landed in much bigger trouble today than you did. You can't shoplift and turn around three days later and expect to take a trip."

"I did this to see you."

"I know. I understand that, baby, I do. I can't promise, but I will do everything in my power to be there for Thanksgiving. And I will pay for you to come out here for your Christmas break." Sam offered.

"That's another two months!" Evy cried. "Sammy, please."

"Cricket, if you come down here, you'd have to sit in my apartment the whole time. Is that what you really want?"

"It's better than not seeing you." Evy said.

"Well, I don't want that. I want your first trip out here to be a good one. A fun one. That may not mean a lot to you, but it does to me. So yes, you're gonna have to wait. I'm sorry, I know it hurts, and I know you're disappointed."

"So I did all that work for nothing." Evy said bitterly.

"No. You did it for me, and I do see that. But I'm sorry. This is just too big to sweep under the rug."

"What am I supposed to do now?" Evy said. "I hadn't made any plans except to be with you."

"You could go out and try to make some new friends." Sam suggested. "Uncle Bobby may not want to tell you to get rid of them, but I am. I don't want you to see them anymore."

Evy nodded, crying too hard now to answer him.

"Cricket, please don't cry. I swear to you, I'll be there as soon as I can. And you'll be here for your Christmas break. If they'll come, I'll even have uncle Bobby and Dean and Daddy here too." When Evy continued sobbing, refusing to look at him, Sam said, "I have to go. If you want, call me tonight and I'll sing you to sleep, okay?"

Evy didn't answer, just hung up the phone and cried dejectedly into her pillow. A text from Sam made her look up. _I love you. No matter what._ She knew it would hurt his feelings, but at that point, she didn't care. _Doesn't feel like it._

Bobby had hoped the week wouldn't drag on and on, but it did. Even though she wasn't grounded, Evy didn't leave the house. She sat in her room, writing in her journal and thinking about where she was supposed to be instead of where she was. She wasn't dumb. She understood the reasoning behind the punishment. But it hurt to think that she could do anything bad enough to not be able to see Sammy. Her dreams were filled of their days in Flagstaff, when Sam would hold her and rock her to sleep and tell her every night that "no matter what, no matter where, I'll always love you, I'll always be there." Apparently that only held true as long as she behaved perfectly.

Finally, five days after the conversation, Bobby went to Evy's room to try again to talk to her. She hadn't been huffy about the punishment, as no doubt Sam would have been. But it was all too clear she was deeply hurt. It didn't help when he found her sleeping, with a picture in her hand of her and Sam taken two days after they'd moved in with him. Bobby finally realized what he had to do. Shaking his head, he reached down and brushed some of her hair out of her face. 

"Damn it, Baitfish. Why do you mess with my heart like this, kid?"

At lunchtime the next day, as Evy ate the rest of her peanut butter sandwich, someone knocked on the door.

"Baitfish, can you go get the door, please?"

"Sure." She said quietly, getting up from the table. When she opened the door, her mouth dropped in surprise. The visitor, dressed in a warm jacket and carrying only a briefcase, smiled.

"Hi, Cricket."

"Sammy!"

Even at thirteen, Evy knew Sam was more than tall enough to lift her up, so without reservation she jumped into his waiting arms.

"You came."

"Yeah, I did." Sam said. "Come on, let's go inside." As soon as they were inside the house, Sam knelt down so that he was eye level with Evy. "I'm sorry. I should never have agreed to not see you."

"I'm sorry too. About everything." Evy said. "It just scared me. You always said there was nothing that could make you not love me…"

"Shhh. Listen to me. There _is_ nothing that could make me not love you. Just because I'm away doesn't mean that I don't still care about you. And if you promise me that your little rebel streak is at an end, then me and Bobby promise. No more punishments involving not seeing me."

"Really?" Evy asked, looking to Bobby, who had come to join them in the hallway."

"Really." Bobby said.

"Deal." Evy said. "How long can you stay?"

"I have to go back Sunday." Sam said. "Two days. That's not as long as we were planning, but…"

"It's perfect." Evy said. She threw her arms back around Sam's neck and held on. "No matter what…"

Sam smiled and finished for her. "No matter where, I'll always love you, I'll always be there."


End file.
